Ep. 53 The Stern Truth: Your Year in Review

Welcome to your year in review! In this episode, I encourage you to look back at the year, see what you achieved, or what you didn’t, and why that happened.

Looking back is the only way that we can move forward. Even if you didn’t have a plan or didn't write down any goals, I want you to reflect on your year. Think about the goals you set out, if you achieved them, and how you did that. Were they measurable results? How did you achieve them?

It may have been the steps you executed. Maybe it was the processes that you implemented. Or maybe it was the accountability, coming back day after day to work tirelessly on that goal.

You might be saying, but Marshall, I didn’t achieve my goals. Then let’s ask a few more questions.

What are you currently doing that feels productive but isn't actually moving your business forward? If you could do one thing over the next 90 days to achieve your goals, what would that be?

Ask yourself what you can commit to on a daily and weekly basis that can create momentum to get you the results you want. Focus on what lights you up, and that commitment, that zone of genius, will come naturally.

We have a new group program for business owners coming in January 2026 called the ONtrepreneur Inner Circle. This program includes ongoing masterminding, mentorship, coaching, accountability, and encouragement to step up your game and achieve your goals. If you’re interested, reach out to me at marshall@marshallstern.net. 

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Transcript

[00:00:00] All right, everyone. Before we get into our final episode of 2025, I have a quick announcement to make and it is the announcement of a brand new program, a group program for a small number of business owners called the ONtrepreneur Inner Circle. If you want to learn more about this inner circle, information is in the show notes below.

[00:00:22] Just reach out to me, marshall@marshallstern.net. This is going to be a, an amazing group program. It's an ongoing program. We are going to meet weekly. It is a hybrid. It is a combination of masterminding, mentorship, coaching, accountability, encouraging each other to really step up our game and make 2026 the best possible year we can and achieve the goals and the results that we really, truly desire. 

[00:00:49] So more information on that. Just reach out to me. Again, small number of business owners, founders, leaders, CEOs that want to join us in this high impactful program that we will meet weekly. It is beginning in mid-January, so reach out to me. Today's episode is a special one because we're closing out to 2025 and going into 2026.

[00:01:10] So grab your pad of paper and pen, and, as always, and enjoy.

[00:01:19] Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do it all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows.

[00:01:38] I've been there, and I get it. This podcast is here to change that. Every week I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugarcoated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:02:01] This is the Stern Truth. 

[00:02:06] Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. Okay, 2025 is about to be over as I record this, so if you're listening to this as it comes out, happy holidays and a happy New Year as we enter a new year of 2026. Today's episode is all about the year in review.

[00:02:31] Because before we can actually move forward into a new year, and you might even be listening to this and it is already 2026, we must look back and we must reflect on the year in review. And the reason I say this is not to just have an episode to talk about the year in review, like every other, like TV sports networks, do you know the year review and this and that.

[00:02:57] Or on Facebook and you showed it the little year in review videos you can do. Not at all. It is important for us to look back because there are clues along the path as to why we did achieve certain successes and results and clues along a path as to why we did not. So I have some questions I want you to think about.

[00:03:21] I'm going to ask you as you reflect back, because the holiday season, the beginning of new year, is a great time to reflect and to plan. But you don't want to be going through this seven, eight months, nine months later and be exactly where you are. If you want to achieve better results, if you want to do more, you need to be more-

[00:03:41] If you want to accomplish more, you need to be more. So looking back, it all starts with way back at the beginning of 2025. Question number one is, did you even have a plan? Did you have goals set out? And, and yes, you probably have heard of SMART goals. Did you have SMART goals set out? 

[00:04:02] Did you have measurable goals set out that you wanted to achieve and or projects that you wanted to achieve during the year? If you did great starting point check, great. Did you achieve them? Question number two, did you achieve them? If the answer's yes, great, why? Why and how? What was it that allowed you to achieve the results that you achieved?

[00:04:29] Or to accomplish that and finalize that project that you wanted to, virtually, why didn't you, for those results, those projects, those things we wanted to, to do and, and, and achieve during the year? What was it? Was it a lack of a plan? It's one thing to have a goal. We also then need to have a plan, actionable steps.

[00:04:55] So I talk about outcome goals versus process goals and going into a new year. I want you to think about that more than in a few minutes. Did you have the actual steps in place to actually execute the different steps that you needed to take in order to achieve the goals and results you wanted? 

[00:05:13] If not, that is a clue, but let's just say you even, you even had that, you even had the plan – check. Goals, outcome goals, check process goals, we're going to get to it. I'll explain that in further detail in a second. And the plan, check. Now the next question is your mindset. Did you have the mindset? Did you have the beliefs that whatever it is that you wanted to achieve, that you could achieve?

[00:05:38] And throughout the year, we know that things happen. We know you could have the biggest, we just talked about this in the Kickstart Growth Lab with our, our group members. You can have the best plan, the best goals, the best plan laid out. You know what happens? You're rocking and rolling in January, and then February happens.

[00:05:58] Someone gets sick, you get sick, things happen, shit happens. It derails us, or we lose momentum. We lose that traction and the momentum that we had built because we were all excited at the beginning of the year. Just like going to the gym, you're all excited. You get the new runners sneakers, wherever they're from.

[00:06:17] You get the new gym bag and you're already and the membership, and you're all ready to rock and roll and then you go. And then after a few weeks, if you even get that far. Your body's sore. Maybe you come down with the flu. It's cold, it's dreary, it's dark out. You don't want to go. You don't go. I'll go tomorrow and then tomorrow becomes the next day and then the next day, and then it's like, okay, you've gone one week in between sessions and then it just dwindles down.

[00:06:44] We don't want that for our business. So did you have the plan? Did you have the goals? Did you have the right mindset? Did you set yourself up for success? And did you follow along with the proper mindset? Did you also, here's another question. Did you have the people, the right people on your team that would help you?

[00:07:01] My friends, stop doing this alone and don't – I do not want to hear from you – I thought, I can hear from you right now, but you can post it below. You can put in the comments, please do. If this is how you feel – “I don't have the money.” “My business isn't at the point where I could hire someone.” “My business isn't at the point.”

[00:07:19] “I don't have the money to hire an employee.” “I don't have the money to hire a part-time employee, a virtual assistant, a coach, a mentor. I don't have the money.” Scarcity. I don't have the time. Scarcity. Why are you in business? Business is, is risky. If you want to achieve something, if you truly do want to grow and get better results, then you need to invest.

[00:07:45] You need to invest in your business intelligently, strategically. I'm not just saying throw money at the, every coach or mentor or coaching program or marketing program that comes along your way, or social media that comes along your way, or any employee, someone who applies for a job. No. You want to do it strategically. 

[00:08:05] You're not sure how, what that looks like, you and I can have a chat. We could discuss further. You know where, where to find me. My contact information's in the email – my email is in the contact information below. Okay. I have another question for you. Are you leading yourself and leading your business? Are you the leader, the entrepreneur? We talk about so much on this podcast.

[00:08:29] Or are you acting like the employee? I'm telling you right now, if you find yourself drained, if you find yourself stuck in the business, focusing on the busy work all the time, you're acting as the employee and not the entrepreneur or the CEO or the leader. I'm not saying not to focus on the client work.

[00:08:52] Of course, if you're delivering the service, you are delivering the service. You need to have people on your team and systems on your systems in your business, which allows you, it doesn't have to be complicated, my friends, which allows you to have the entrepreneur mindset. You block the time to work on the business with the vision, building the vision, moving towards that vision, doing the activities and the action steps that will get you there.

[00:09:20] Here's some questions I've asked our members in the Kickstart Growth Lab in. Actually one of the sessions we just recently had, and I want to ask you this as you build out for 2026. Before I get to those questions, I'm going to ask you more questions. So I hope you actually had the pad of paper and pen this time because this is important.

[00:09:38] And if you're driving, watch this later. Rewatch it later or listen to it later and write it down. What do you want to achieve in 2026? If you could fast forward one year at the end of the year, you were almost in tears because you were so excited and proud of yourself for achieving it. What is that? What does that look like to you?

[00:10:03] Let's go back a second. Before we even get to that point. Here's a question I want to ask you. Ask yourself this. Where in my business am I not getting the results that I want? Where in the business am I not getting the results that I want? So the first step was a reflection of the previous year, and you can do this every year, and you should do it throughout the year.

[00:10:32] You can even do it based on a quarter or even a month. Where in my business am I not getting the results that I want and why? What can you do to change that? What or who do you need to do or to have to change that? Okay. Then you move forward looking at the future, looking at the next year, what do you want?

[00:10:52] And by the end of the year, and then work backwards onto quarterly. And I like to look at three months at a time. And we talked about a lot about this in the Kickstart Growth Lab, telling you it simplifies things. It simplifies things. And I might even do another Growth Lab. So if you're listening to this and you're wanting to get in on the action and learn and move forward, reach out to me and we could talk.

[00:11:18] Final three questions for you. If you could do one thing consistently over the next 90 days to improve your results and ability to achieve a 90 day and a one year goal – because in the Growth Lab we talk, we break it down to 90 days. Okay. What would that be? Lemme repeat that. If you could do one thing consistently over the next 90 days to improve your results and your ability to achieve your goals, what would that be?

[00:11:51] What would that one thing be? Question number two, what are you currently doing that feels maybe too productive but isn't actually moving your business forward? In the Growth Lab, we talked about the Pareto Principle, right? The 80/20 rule. It might be focusing on the wrong activities, my friends, it's the 80% of the activities that are doing nothing for you and your business.

[00:12:14] In fact, all it's doing is draining you and holding you back and preventing you from achieving what you want to achieve. The final question, you might not know the answer to this yet. I want you to think about this. What is the one action step that you are prepared to commit to and do daily and weekly?

[00:12:32] That would create the momentum and the results? That you want for your business. So this episode is not just a year in a review, it's a year looking into the future. It's setting up the year ahead of us. But you have to look at the year in review first, and then you have to get clarity and take the action steps.

[00:12:56] And it's not easy, but if you get clarity and you have the plan, and you have the goals. You have the people on your team to keep you motivated and take the stuff off your plate that you shouldn't be doing, allow you to focus on your genius zone, your sweet spot. You'll have more energy, you'll have more clarity, you'll have more focus, more calmness.

[00:13:22] You're in a much better position to achieve the results that you desire and absolutely deserve. So here's to 2026. I wish you all the best. I will see you next time in 2026, so I would love to wish you, your family, your friends, a very, very happy New Year and we'll see you next year on the Stern Truth Business Filtered.

[00:13:52] Thank you so much for tuning in to the Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest in an upcoming episode or join us in one of our Moment Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net.

[00:14:12] That's marshall@marshallstern.net. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and leading with confidence.